One life lost is one too many

It has been a sad and bloody start to the festive season once again considering the number of road fatalities reported in the last week or so. According to the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund, over 3 600 crashes have reported since the beginning of January this year until this past Sunday. The frightening part is that 695 people have been killed in these accidents, while 6 420 have escaped with an assortment of injuries. Since the start of the 2017/18 festive season road safety campaign on 22 November, 27 people have died and 184 were injured in 111 crashes. Despite interventions here and there seeking to bring an end to road deaths, it appears road safety messages are falling on deaf ears. Most of these road accidents are avoidable. Our roads are just fine. There is absolutely nothing with our infrastructure. At the end of the day it still boils down to the attitude exhibited by motorists. If road users can't change and improve their driving patterns we will continue to battle carnage on our roads. The scale of emotional, social and economic devastation caused by road crashes is huge as we continue to be robbed off not only our loved ones, but productive citizens who could have contributed immensely to our country's development. In most cases it is the economically productive people aged between 16 and 35 that make up over 40% of the total fatalities. The responsibility of ensuring safety on our roads rests upon all of us, and not only law enforcement agencies, the MVA Fund, the National Road Safety Council and other stakeholders. We should all become road safety ambassadors by making a personal commitment to change, among others, the attitude of those making use of our roads. We should learn to consider for a minute that a fellow road user also has a desire to live and arrive safely at his or her destination. We must at all times observe speed limits, while being considerate to other equally important road users because one life lost is one too many.